Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Alaskan Brewery Releasing Kicker Session IPA

Courtesy of Alaskan Brewery

JUNEAU, Alaska (March 1, 2016) –
With a goal of making a refreshing session beer that still packs the
full flavor of an IPA, the brewers at Alaskan Brewing Company used five
hop varieties to create Kicker Session IPA. All that hop flavor is
carried with a light to medium malt body and a low 4.5% alcohol
content, making Kicker a trusty companion after adventures that can
last a full day – which in Alaska can be 24 hours long.

“Our brewers were inspired by the long daylight hours of summer here
in Alaska, and the idea of having a beer to take along as a companion
after the adventure,” said Brewing Manager Rob Day. “The name Kicker
comes from the small engine used on boats in our waters as a trolling
motor and also often used as a backup to the main engine. Those little
kickers have saved many folks here from having to paddle back to port –
they may be small, but they’re reliable and always up for the
challenge.”

Customers in the Brewery’s tasting room in Juneau have for years
asked for a beer that had the robust flavors they had come to expect
from the Alaskan style of brewing, with a lower alcohol content so they
could enjoy more of that flavor.

“It’s always been some sort of unwritten rule that if the beer has a
lower alcohol content, it somehow has to have less flavor,” said Day.
“It isn’t easy to get good body and flavor into a lower-gravity beer,
but we achieved a light to medium body by using Munich and Dark Crystal
malts to bring a lot of backbone to the malt build without increasing
the gravity. Then we just went a little overboard with the hops.”

Dry
hopping with five varieties brings a high level of complexity to Kicker
– both in aroma and flavor. Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Simcoe and
Mosaic hop flavors and bitterness come through boldly, with fruity
flavors of strawberry and tangerine notes coming from the Citra and
Amarillo, and a grapefruit and pine taste from the Simcoe and Mosaic.

The red skiff depicted on the label with the small kicker engine is a
staple of living the Alaska lifestyle in coastal communities across
much of the state. They are the packhorse of living near the water,
whether used for hauling gear to a remote cabin, trolling for salmon, or
hitting a secret halibut hole. Their aluminum hulls and light kicker
engines allow them to be hauled on shore, and their “V” shape cuts
through the often daunting Alaska seas.

Courtesy of Alaskan Brewery

Kicker is the first new year-round six pack Alaskan has introduced
since 2013, and will be available in all 17 states where Alaskan beer is
distributed. For more information, check out Alaskan Brewing’s website
at www.alaskanbeer.com.